Update on Faith and Makaila

The twins have had another good day today. Faith continues to increase her ability to consume more breast milk. She started off at 1 ml every 4 hours, increased to 1 ml every 2 hours, and is now consuming 2 ml every 2 hours. While the amount is not particularly important in terms of nutrition (that's what the intravenous fluids are for), breast milk helps her immune system out and trains her for when it becomes her primary source of nutrition a few months down the road. Makaila is still on 1 ml every 4 hours, but they figure that is because of the CPAP that is assisting her breathing. Air sometimes gets into the stomach, making it uncomfortable for her to eat. She's getting enough to get the practice of it, which is really all that matters at this point.

Makaila is doing really well on the CPAP and the PICC line is great. She had some blood work done today and everything looks great. Faith had one of her lines taken out of her umbilical cord and has had a PICC line put in. This is not only to give her a less infection prone sight for the intravenous fluids, but to also prep her for going on the CPAP. Her breathing is getting better, but is not quite there yet. They hope that by tomorrow they will be able to switch her over. Her lungs aren't quite as strong as we would like them to be, so we will be fine if she isn't ready yet, or if she needs to switch back to the respirator after going onto the CPAP. We're not in a hurry and we are so proud of how well she is doing considering her traumatic entry into the world and her very young gestational age. She's our baby slugger!